But you know one thing that hasn’t changed? See one name missing from this paragraph?

“There are a lot of people hitting Georgia, probably harder than ever,” Richt said. “It sure seems a lot more than when I first got to UGA. Unfortunately, I think one of the best-kept secrets is out. There are great players in this state and people know it. Not only is it the usual suspects, the schools that basically are touching the state of Georgia, but now you have people from up North and the West coast. There’s a lot of interest from everywhere. There’s recruiters from Texas A&M and Missouri all over Georgia, too…”

It’s not Richt being unable to close the borders that makes the state an attractive target to so many other programs these days. It’s that Georgia Tech doesn’t pull its weight.

(By the way, Central Florida, when you sign a 6-4, 350-pound kid whose nickname is “Snacks”, you can’t say you don’t know what you’re getting into there.)

Artie Lynch reminds us why some of the fan reaction to Isaiah Crowell’s freshman season might have been a wee bit over the top, and not in a good way.

“The person I’ve been most impressed with and the person and everyone who I think has been wrongly scrutinized the whole year was Isaiah. You ask these high expectations out of a kid who’s 18 years old, it’s such a different game than high school. Let’s face it, he had instant success and people were so demanding of his savior, this idea of `Oh, the next Herschel.’ That’s just unfairly suited to him…

“You can just tell in the summer workouts. When you get to college, everything changes—academically, workouts and the season. I don’t think he ever had to go to workouts demanding two hours a day. It’s different for everybody. Everybody just used him as prime example just because of the fact he was Isaiah and he was this highly-touted guy, this and that. There were other guys who had the same problems he did, they just might have been redshirting or they might not have been playing or had as big an impact on the team. I think for him just to see him with Coach T working out in the sprints and the mat drills and lifting, you can see he wants to get better and he’s finally getting it. Coach Richt always says `The Georgia Way. The Georgia Way. The Georgia Way,’ which in reality is the right way. He’s understanding how to do it at a speed where he’s comfortable with it…”

No, it wasn’t a storybook season. The mid-year bust took care of that. But here’s a kid who, despite missing two games, finished sixth in the conference in rushing (the next closest freshman finished eighteenth), rushed for over 100 yards in conference play four times (same as Michael Dyer) and carried the ball 52 times in back to back games against the Mississippi schools. He didn’t exactly suck, in other words. But he did get booed in the SECCG because he couldn’t stay in the game and contribute.

Why? Largely because, I think, many of us lost sight of where he came from and how big a jump it can be for an 18-year old to go from being the man in high school to being an SEC target week in and week out. No question he was immature in his approach to the game last year – and he paid a price for it. But it’s hard to see how that justified some of what’s been lobbed at him by the Georgia fan base.

In another sign that there’s a lot of jostling for position among SEC ADs over how to structure conference scheduling, LSU’s Joe Alleva assured the Baton Rouge Advocate that not only his school had no problem ending the LSU-Florida permanent opponent arrangement, but that Florida took the same position.

While LSU athletic director Joe Alleva said that the Tigers and Florida are both “interested in ending” their annual series, Florida sources told CBSSports.com that the Gators have given no indication they want their series to end with LSU.

Look, I have no idea what’s coming next from Jeremy Foley. I only know he’s not stupid enough to tip his hand publicly until he knows what he can get for it. Joe Alleva, on the other hand, is the kind of guy who makes Jimmy Sexton’s life a lot easier.